by Jen Pretty
Sounds of yelling behind us were the only warning that the vampires had breached the school and were now fighting the DPI guards.
I prayed they would hold them off a few minutes longer and scooped one of the slower children into my arms as we ran.
"Selena, you should go with Kai," Dorothy said as she hustled, towing a few children who had started to cry.
"No way in hell."
She had the nerve to scowl at me. I was no longer the 'run-and-hide' type of girl she knew. She hadn't met the new Selena. The one who dashed into caves after giant bats and fought off giant apes. Despite my fear, I knew at that moment that I would never back down again. Never run from a vampire or hide my magic away like a secret.
We reached Niri's office and all the children ran inside just as Kai arrived and grabbed a couple of them before disappearing again.
"Lock the door behind us," I said when the last child passed through the doorway. I would guard it against the outside.
When I turned, a beaten Nick still stood by the doorway, his eyes locked on to mine; his look of sadness mixed with his appearance struck some soft part of me that still believed that Nick was a good person who had just gone through a tough patch. I shook my head, reminding myself that people had died because of his actions. But then so had people died from mine. I bit my lip but ripped my gaze from Nick and moved forward. There would be time to consider this later.
"I'm coming with you," Colvin yelled, racing past me.
"No way in hell!" I said, grabbing the back of his shirt and nearly knocking him over backward. "You are going with Kai as soon as she gets back. I won't risk you."
"I can help you! You know I can!"
"I know you are powerful, Colvin, but this is serious. This is not like raising the dead."
Colvin stared at me and his face went passive. "They are just the same as any other dead thing, Selena. They are ours to control."
The words came out so calmly, I thought I had misheard him. "What?"
"You heard me," he replied.
"We can't control them, Colvin."
Colvin snorted. "Not alone. But together, we can do anything."
"This isn't the time for this," I said, pushing him back into the room. "Go with Kai."
Peran put a hand on Colvin’s shoulder, stopping him from following me.
I slammed the door shut and held it until I heard the lock flick. He would forgive me for being abrupt. I would never forgive myself if he got hurt.
With Jax leading the way and Nick trailing behind me, already looking stronger than he had a few moments before, I heard the scream off Crow a second before he dropped my blade in the hall ahead of us. I scooped it as we went past, and Crow vanished through the wall.
"That bird is handy," Jax muttered.
I tightened my grip on the knife as we rounded the corner toward the shouting and sounds of fighting.
It was like we had stepped into a war zone. Dust hung in the air and the outside wall of the Sanctuary was caved in. Vampires crawled over the rubble, engaging witches and warlocks and other vampires. There were dozens of them already on the ground, held by sparkling magic, but more just flooded in to take their place.
Jax, Nick and I jumped into the battle. My sword swung, cutting flesh and slowing vampires as they tried to rip the throats out of the soldiers, their teeth flashing in the moonlight that slipped through the hole in the wall.
"No," I yelled as a vampire launched himself at Nick. My blade sang through the air, catching the offending vampire across the chest. Nick turned from the vampire he had been fighting and ripped out the throat of the vampire I had sliced with his teeth.
Blood soaked the floor all around us as I watched Jax twist a vampire’s head nearly off his body with his deceptively strong arms.
The guards were beginning to make an impact on the number of attacking vampires in the hall, but before I could take a breath, a blast shook the school and dust blasted toward us from behind. I spun to find a wall of dust, but it was crawling with vampires. Enough that my immediate reaction was that we needed to run. There was no way we would get past them and now dozens of them were heading back down the hall toward where I had left the children and Dorothy.
"No!" I yelled again as my magic rose up to the surface. It swirled and leapt a moment before sharpening into a sword as long as my arm. It swung back and forth, sweeping the vampires in my path out of the way, but not fast enough.
Peran was suddenly at my shoulder. I glanced back, but Nick and Jax were still fighting the vampires. Jax had grabbed a piece of broken glass.
I broke past the horde of vampires, but a few had broken away and were ahead of us in the hall, heading for Niri's office.
"Stop!" I yelled, stepping into a run. They didn't stop though and ahead of me, I could see the exact moment the vampire realized there were people beyond the closed door of Niri's office.
He stopped then quickly threw his shoulder at the door, which gave way under the insult.
"No!" I yelled futilely once more.
But then a surge of magic flew out from me, wild and unkempt. It raced down the hall like spring runoff, just as I saw similar magic come careening toward me.
Colvin's magic. I was nearly at the door when the two magics touched in a blast of blue sparks that lit the whole area like a mid-summer day.
The sound of fighting and yelling stopped. A deep hollow silence fell around me as I blasted past the place where the magic met and through the door to find everyone in the room frozen.
Everyone except Colvin.
His green eyes glanced up at me. "I told you we could do it together."
My lungs were still caught, but I made a ragged sound a second before the air blasted out of me. I passed the frozen vampire who had been about to hurt the few children remaining in the room and snatched up Colvin, hugging him tight to my chest.
"You little turd. You should have left."
"I'm sorry, Selena," he said. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
"I'm okay now," I said, not willing to let Colvin go. The memory of that vampire blasting through the door to Colvin's hiding place was going to be enough to give me nightmares for months. "But what do we do now?"
"I think I can help with that," a deep voice behind me said. I turned and lifted the blade still in my hand, ready to defend Colvin and the few other children in the room.
"No need for that, Selena."
He took another step into the room and Falcor stepped up beside him. The resemblance between the two of them was uncanny. So, I knew in an instant this was Falcor's father. King of the witches and warlocks.
I lowered the blade but didn't drop it or try to put it away. I had enough trouble for one night, I wasn't going to relax just yet.
Falcor's eyes examined me as if he was looking for injury, but when he found none, he seemed to relax a bit. I was bruised, but I was definitely still whole. Not something I could say for everyone in the building.
"How did you get past the vampires?" I asked, letting Colvin slide to the floor.
"We knew they were going to be there," Falcor's father said. "Thanks to an unexpected warning from Anick, so we simply landed at another airport."
The silence after his statement stretched out. Nothing moved in the building besides the four of us. "Why aren't you frozen?" Colvin asked from beside me. His arms were still wrapped around me as if he was afraid, I might disappear if he didn't hang on.
The magic that we were using to hold all the vampires, warlocks, and witches still was draining. I could feel Colvin sagging against me and had the urge to sit down.
"Why don't we talk about that afterward," the older man said before turning to Falcor. "You handle the vampires in this area. I'll go back to the blasted area and wrap up those ones." He turned and looked at me and Colvin once more. "You two hang tight, we won't be but a few minutes."
They both turned and walked out of the room and I pulled Colvin with me to a wing-back chair in the c
orner beside a bookshelf. There were a few other children still frozen in the room as well as Dorothy who was bent over talking to a very small child. Well, she wasn't talking to the small child now. I pulled Colvin into my lap and he curled up like a puppy, his feet hanging off the edge of the chair, but the rest of him curled into me. His eyes blinked heavily a few times before they closed.
I squeezed him gently. "Wait for another minute." He stirred and opened his eyes groggily.
"I love you, Selena," he said, his little arms wrapping around my arm as I cradled him.
"I love you, too, buddy."
I glanced over at Dorothy, her hair was blocking part of her face as she bent over the small girl. She was back. She was also a witch and I wondered why I hadn't put that together before. She knew all about warlocks and Niri and the Sanctuary. And about me. I hoped that now she would stick around, and I could get some answers.
Kai manifested in the middle of the room facing away from Colvin and I. "Oh shit," he whispered before poking the vampire who was stuck in the middle of the room.
Colvin's giggle gave us away and Kai spun around in a fighter's stance.
"Oh crap," he straightened and pushed his floppy hair back off his face. "Did you two do this?"
"It was Colvin's idea," I said in a playful tone.
"Hey," Colvin responded, matching my childish tone. "You were the one who didn't want the bad vampire to eat me."
"Hmm, you have a point.” We might have been getting a bit giddy at this point with the flow of magic and heavy drain of holding all everyone still. Our giggles echoed through the silent room and out into the hall too.
Falcor came back through the door, his magic swirling around him like a cowboy at a rodeo.
"This is the last one," he said with a brief nod to Kai. Kai scowled in return; no love lost between the two of them.
Colvin snuggled in closer to me and closed his eyes. "Good night, Selena," he said as I brushed his white hair from his eyes.
"Good night," I watched him for a moment as he drifted to sleep. Then my eyes fluttered as the sounds of voices rang out down the hall. But I couldn't force my eyes back open and finally just gave up and surrendered to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I woke to the sound of arguing and tried to force myself to go back to sleep. A warm lump lay curled beside me. My magic shifted and I knew it was Colvin. His breathing was even, and his magic was slow and sluggish, so I presumed he was still asleep, but we were definitely in a bed now. Whoever had moved us, must have shifted both of us and I was grateful. A stiff neck would not have been pleasant.
I cracked open a single eyelid and peered around. I had no idea whose bed I was in, but it was bigger than the usual bunk beds we slept in when we visited the sanctuary.
I could see dark figures, one in each corner of the room.
"I know you're awake," Jax's deep voice said in a hushed tone.
A smile pulled at my cheeks and I slowly untangled myself from the sleeping Colvin. He grumbled once, but then rolled over and his breathing smoothed out once more.
A shadow peeled away from the other corner and I realized it had been Nick when the lit doorway framed his back. I glanced back to where he had been sitting and noticed his empty glass sitting beside his chair. It was so much like old times I almost called out to him.
But things had changed. A lot. So, I let him walk away even though regret ate at me. I had made some mistakes as far as Nick went. But he had made much bigger ones.
Jax's fingers threaded with mine, pulling me back to the moment. I sighed and then leaned into him, letting his arm circle me. "Did they get all the vampires secured or whatever they were doing with them?"
Jax didn't speak for a beat, but when I looked up at him, he shook his head as if he was shaking some thought away and grinned down at me. "Yeah. All of the attacking vampires have been drained and transported to the cells at the Department headquarters."
"Wow, creepy that they have cells. Is it like a prison?"
"Yup. They took over a defunct prison, fixed it up and now they use it for trouble makers among the magic community."
"Good." I glanced back down the hall the direction Nick had gone.
"You should go talk to him," Jax said, slipping his arm off my shoulders.
"Who is yelling?" I asked, changing the subject to try and avoid talking to Nick.
Jax grinned as if he knew what I was doing, but humoured me anyway. "That is the CEO and the king. They seem to have a difference of opinion about the future of the Sanctuary."
I crinkled my nose. I wasn't sure, but I felt like I could get along with the king, but I knew for a fact I didn't like Mr. Havisham. "Maybe I'll go talk to them first."
Jax chuckled. "Alright. I'll go see if I can dig up some breakfast. There is a guard by the door, he can keep an eye on Colvin."
I glanced back at Colvin. He would be glad that Nick was back. If Nick stayed. "Thank you, Jax." There was no point in denying it. I was torn between a lot of people right now. But we were all still alive. Except for Niri.
I took a deep breath and padded out of the room, toward the angry voices. As I passed the guard at the door, he gave me a bow, tipping his head much lower than a normal nod. I walked on, hoping that wasn't a thing.
Crow called out from directly above me and I ducked, gasping as the bird seemed to chuckle, glancing back at me. "I hope you fly into a window," I muttered. "Jerk." He turned the corner up ahead, toward the yelling that had slowed, but not yet ceased.
I rounded the corner and found the two men, each with a stack of papers in front of them, flipping through and reading as they went.
"This can never be," the king said, angrily flipping another page.
"It's what Niri wanted," Mr. Havisham countered.
The king growled and flipped another page, scanning the words.
I had stopped when I heard the name Niri and was stuck in the doorway until the king glanced back and did a double-take.
"There you are," he said, his eyes growing bright and a smile curling his lips. His dark hair was dishevelled and he had bags under his eyes as if he had been awake for days.
I waved awkwardly.
"We haven't formally met," the king of the witches and warlocks said. "You may call me Farand."
I stuck out my hand. "Good to meet you, Farand."
Falcor snickered and Farand gave him a look. The kind a father gives his child when he wants him to behave. "Don't mind Falcor, he has been pushing my buttons all day."
I wasn't sure how Falcor had been raised by this man who seemed actually kind of funny and friendly. Falcor was so serious and dark.
"Don't worry, I never mind Falcor." I gave the warlock a look, too.
"Can we get back to this?" Mr. Havisham asked.
"Of course," Farand muttered.
I didn't want to ask, but my mouth opened and words came out anyway. "What are you doing?"
"We are going through Niri's will."
"Shit," I muttered. I had known it was something like that. "Shouldn't we be fighting vampires or something?"
Farand waved his hand. "Nick had the rest of them under control. It seems most of the vampires aren't interested in finding themselves up against the Black Crow and her ability to control anyone who displeases her." Farand gave me a wink.
Crow hopped across the desk and picked up one of the sheets of paper from the pile that Mr. Havisham had been flipping through.
"Hey!"
Crow hopped to the edge of the desk and dropped the page. We all watched it coast through the air and land at my feet.
"Crow, why do you have to be like this?" I asked, bending over and scooping up the page. My name caught my eye…
“Selena is to take Colvin home with her. I fear no other teacher would be able to handle the boy.”
I read the passage out loud and then scanned all the faces of the people in the room. "What does that mean? Handle the boy?"
Mr. Havisham and Farand sh
rugged, but when I looked at Falcor his eyes were averted.
"It's because I'm really strong," Colvin's voice spoke from the doorway. "Niri always kept me under control." A look of deep shame and sadness crossed his face a moment before he dropped his head in his hands and began to cry.
"Oh Colvin," I muttered, crossing the room and scooping him up.
"It's all my fault. I should have stayed here and helped him. I could have saved him, Selena."
It seemed like a good time to break down to me, too, so I grabbed up Colvin as my own tears threatened to spill. Then I hustled us down the hall to the empty cafeteria. I backed up to the wall and slid down, so the little boy was curled up in my lap.
Then I let my tears fall, too. We cried together for several minutes and I just held his tiny form close, rocking back and forth gently. Neither of us had time until now to really let the situation sink in.
I hadn't known Niri that well, but every interaction had been laced with kindness and his gentle spirit. I had never had a father figure growing up, so he was my first. I imagined that Colvin felt the same way about him. He was a strong warlock, but soft in every way that mattered.
When Colvin's sobs stopped and his hiccups faded, I looked down at him and he looked up at me. It was just us now. Us and our giant extended family. Falcor, Nick, and Jax would have our backs. Hopefully Dorothy, too. I needed to see her, but first...
"You know it wasn't your fault, Colvin," I said, tucking his head under my chin so his warm breath ticked across my neck. "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine."
"That's not true," he replied, gripping my arm tighter.
"Then it's not your fault either. Niri was an old man. If he chose to stay, that was his decision. We should respect that."
Colvin sniffled once more, but after a moment he nodded. "You're right, Selena."
"Selena," It was Nick's voice and when I glanced over, he still looked terrible.
"Nick!" Colvin cried, launching himself from my arms to Nick’s in a move as quick as a vampire.
Nick let out an "oof" as the bundle of over-excited child slammed into his chest, but he held Colvin tight, spinning him around in a move I had seen him do before all this shit happened. It made my heart surge for a moment and then fall as I remembered everything that had happened.
